A San Jose Sharks Blog

The biggest story of the game was Bill Guerin finally scoring a point for his new squad; more specifically, he scored four points. Last night, Guerin could do no wrong. His first goal of the night was a dribbler that he swatted past Blackhawks goalie, Patrick Lalime. Bursting with happiness, Guerin's momentum took him directly into referee Kerry Fraser's arms for a celebration. After breaking through the "teal point barrier", he followed up the goal with an assist on Mark Bell's shot in the second period which extended the lead to 2 - 0. Guerin's second goal of the night was a quick little backhand in front of the net. Captain Patrick Marleau chipped a pass from behind the net and Guerin quickly rattled it in for a power play goal. His final goal, for the hat trick, was a bit of a high-pressured moment; Chicago was called for a hook and Guerin was awarded a penalty shot with 13 seconds left in the game. The call was a bit questionable because it didn't appear that Guerin had a clear breakaway, but as a Sharks fan, I did not care one bit. Guerin skated in and shot it five hole which caused the crowd to erupt and throw caps onto the ice.

On the defensive side, Nabokov provided another solid outing, posting 18 of 19 saves and nearly getting his fourth shutout in the last five games. Unfortunately, the way he lost last night's potential shutout was a bit disappointing; not only did the Versus Network play-by-play man admittedly jinx him by saying the word "shutout" numerous times, but the goal was both late in the game and rather soft. With 3:30 left in the 3rd period, Matt Carle coughed up the puck behind the net, which resulted in Martin Lapointe wrapping around and shooting the puck underneath Nabby who seemed to be caught off guard.

The end of the game brought about some excitement as well when both teams met at center ice after the final whistle. A late hit by Peter Bondra on Steve Bernier led to a scrum and a number of gloves on the ice. Nothing came of it; other than a few jabs and words being thrown about.

Overall, it was a real whooping. The line of Clowe, Goc, and Bernier again controlled the tempo whenever they were on the ice. Though the line did not score any goals, their domination definitely led to a number of scoring chances. In addition, the Grier-Michalek two-on-one breakaway goal was another highlight on the night; their speed and crisp passing led to a sprawling Lalime and an easy tap-in for Grier.

Granted, the Blackhawks are not a very strong team this year, but it was nice to see the Sharks dominate. Hopefully, this game will get the offense rolling consistently...straight into the playoffs.